Manufacture of fertilizers.



UNITED STATES PATENT omen.

DAVID SHIELDS, OF EDGEWOB'IH, PENNSYLVANIA.

MANUFACTURE OI FERTILIZERS.

In Drawing.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, DAVID SHmLns, residing at Edgeworth, in the countyof Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, a citizen 5 of the UnitedStates, have invented or discovered certain new and useful Improvementsinthe Manufacture of Fertilizers, of

which improvements the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in the manufacture of fertihzers.Letters Patent of the United States, No. 913,922 (March 2, 1909,) andNo. 1,196,889, (September 5, 1916,) have heretofore been granted me inthis field.

My present invention consists in improvements in the method ofmanufacture which is described in the later of the two patents named,No. 1,196,889, and particularly concerns the matter of the temperatureto which the mixture of coal and subterranean salt water is subjected,whereby I am enabled to dispense with the step of aging as described inthe patent. These and other 25 matters indicating adaptations of myinvention will appear in the ensuing description.

As in my earlier invention, I take coal or other carbonaceous material,and, ifnot already in finely divided condition, I bring it finer; softercarbonaceous substances, such as peat and lignite, need not be groundso' fine. In the usual commercial operations at anthracite mines, themined coal is washed and a great deal of coal in finely divided state iswashed away; some of this is reclaimed; but some of it, formerly carriedaway in streams and rivers, is now, because of the requirements of statelaws, deposited as silt. This silt deposit; of anthracite coal has nopresent commercial value. I find it well adapted to my purpose. Imix, asbefore, with the finely divided carbonaceous material a solution ofmineral salts, which preferably is, or at least is essentially like. thewell-known subterranean waters which flow from oil and gas wells. I havefound that such subterranean water, when used in the operation heredescribed, while serving the desired end, doesnot leave in the result.-ing fertilizer any harmful substances. The

density of this natural water varies con- Specification of LettersPatent.

Application filed November 28, 1916. Serial No. 132,998.

to such condition. My preferred material Patented Jan. 16, 1917.,

siderably, and in any case considerable latitude 1n proportlons ispermissible; ordinarily five ounces by weight of this subterranean waterwill on evaporation leave two ounces of salts. I have found that goodresults are obtained by combining with every thirty pounds of groundcoal six pounds of the dry salt, or fifteen pounds by weight of thenative subterranean water of the degree of concentration indicated.

The mixed mass is heated for a sufiicient time to cause the salts toimpregnate the coahleavmg the particles of coal in softened conditlon.This is advantageously accompllshed by placing the mixture of coal andsalt water in a closed vessel and subjecting it to a hot water bath. Inmy earlier Patent No..1,196,889, I recommended a tempera ture notexceeding 130 F. continued for 18 to 20 hours. I have since discoveredthat by ra1sing the temperature to the boilingpoint of water or toapproximation thereto, the perlod of heating may be diminished. and neednot be continued only from about 8 to 12 hours, and furthermore, aftersuch treatment at higher temperature the ultimate step of the operationas previously descrlbed, that is the step of aging, becomes unnecessary.I find that in this matter of temperature the best results are attainedby maintaining the water bath at a slow boil.

After the mixture has been heated as above described, I mix with theimpregnated coal powdered clay or a similar substance. The clay which Iprefer to use is a fine clay commonly found in and often immediatelybeneath deposits of bituminous coal, but other clay may be used withsuccess. The carbonaceous slate commonly found in coal mines associatedwith the coal, and constituting with clay the mine refuse called by theminers gob, I have found to be an excellent material for use here. Theslate is of course reduced to finely divided condition, to the conditionof clay, in fact,,and is then mixed with the impregnated coal. It ispreferred to'mix the impregnated coal and clay (or slate) together inproportions of about twoto one b weight of the coal component to theclay or slate) component; nevertheless a less precentage of theimpregnated coal may be mixed with the clay (or slate) and desirablefertilizing qualities obtained.

I have here indicated that the slate (particu- 110 as clay is used tomix with the coal-to accomplish my invention. In the ensuing claims Imean to include in the term clay not only material found disintegratedin native state but also clay such as I produce by grinding the slatewhich I have here mentioned.

The material so prepared is ready for service, and does not re uire theaging which is a feature of the met 0d described in my earlier PatentNo. 1,196,889.

A further feature of my present invention is this, that instead ofmixing the clay (or slate) with the coal after the latter substance hasbeen treated with saline water, the clay (or slate) and the coal may bemixed first, and the saline water may be added to the mixture,- and thewhole may then be heated, in like manner as the coal has already beendescribed to be heated.

I claim as my invention:

1 The method of manufacturing fertilizer wh ch 0011515135 in mixingcarbonaceousmater1al 1n finely divided condition withsubterranean saltwater, subjecting the mixture to a temperature a proximating theboilingpomt of water, an adding to the so-treated material clay infinely divided condition.

2 The method of manufacturing fertilizer which consists in subjectingthe carbon component of a mixture of finely divided coal and finelydivided clay tothe action of subtefng'ageair salt water while at atemperature 0 In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

DAVID SHIELDS. Witnesses:

FRANCIS J. TOMASSON, RoBER'r H. KOHL.

1th hereby certified that in Letters Patent No. 1,212,573, grantedJanuary 16 1917, upon the application of David Shields, of Edgeworth,Pennsylvania, for en impmveinent inthe Manufacture of Fertilizers,"errors eppeu in the printed specifioetion requiring correction asfollows: Page 1, line 80, strike out the word "not;

same page, line 112, strike out the word "which; and that the aidLetters Patent lhould be raid with these corrections therein that thename may conform to the reeood of the one in the Patent Oflice. endsealed this 6th day of February, A. 1):, 191?.

[IIAL] I R. F. WHITEHEAD,

Acting Oomme'eeioner of PM.

